January
3, 2007: Continuing budget problems have already forced Britians Royal Navy to
mothball (put into inactive reserve) 13 of its 44 warships. Now it has been decided
to mothball another eight, and to cancel construction of two Type-45
destroyers. That will leave only six new Type-45s, plus two new aircraft
carriers being built. The government is also considering closing one of the
three bases the navy maintains. The budget problems are caused by cost overruns
in procurement problems for new ships (destroyers and nuclear subs) and
aircraft (the new Eurofighter), as well as training costs associated with
troops being sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. The government believes it can get
away with these cuts because, well, the U.S. Navy is more powerful than all the
world's navies combined, and a close ally of Britain. So if there's an
emergency requiring warshipsâ€¦

"Now it has been decided to mothball another eight, and to cancel construction of two Type-45 destroyers. That will leave only six new Type-45s, plus two new aircraft carriers being built."

Reality is, that 2 of the six remaining Type-45's might get offered to the House of Saud (Saudi Arabia) bringing the number of Type-45's to 4, two per carrier. Although I feel, that 4 Type 45's wouldn't cut the bread it might just scrape us through in the medium term, with hopefully a longer term aspiration of the Type 22/23 replacements coming with a common hull, but different capabilities across the class (a la Fremm, where the french have an ASW version, a AAW version? and a Land attack version). Then we might hope to see another 4 AAW ships.

Slightly of Topic

Having spent some time thinking about it, I'm not certain if a as rumoured plan for a two teir fleet would work for the Royal Navy, as if there's a crisis developing somewhere you would want to nip it in the butt early, and if your only nearby asset is a low end corvette/ frigate (which it would have to be to satisfy the Treasury) you just wouldn't have the same ability to nip a crisis in the butt early on that you would get from a high end Frigate /Destroyer. In any given crisis the primary aim of a nation involved is to try and take control of events early on, so your oponent works to your script rather than their script.

The (British) government believes it can get away with these cuts because, well, the U.S. Navy is more powerful than all the world's navies combined, and a close ally of Britain. So if there's an emergency requiring warships…

Yet another analysis showing that Western Europe thinks Uncle Sam is a free ride to security.

The money that has been cut from the RN was used on Iraq and Afghanistan - efforts done because UK is aclose ally of the US.

But by all means, don't change your narrow outlook just because of enlightenment.

The (British) government believes it can get away with these cuts because, well, the U.S. Navy is more powerful than all the world's navies combined, and a close ally of Britain. So if there's an emergency requiring warships…

Yet another analysis showing that Western Europe thinks Uncle Sam is a free ride to security.